The Band Perry situation is no longer one of simply being “bad” or in “poor taste,” or about making career decisions that are easy to second guess. I’m trying to think of another time that a country act tried to cross over, and it went so colossally bad. And I keep coming up empty.

We thought The Band Perry couldn’t stoop any lower after releasing their debut single “Live Forever” off of their upcoming album Heart + Beat. The song stank, and so did the reception from both fans and radio. But The Band Perry soldiered on. After the disappointment with “Live Forever,” the new album’s original release date of November 20th was scuttled, and they were said to be heading back into the studio to retool. But it wasn’t to revert back to what made them one of the most promising young bands in mainstream country, but to double down on this new direction.

“Well we actually had a date chosen [for the album], and then we had a very exciting collaboration that just happened,” Kimberly Perry said in an interview with News4Jax on November 2nd. “So we kind of got this last jolt of creative energy, so we feel like we’re going to push it back a little bit further to early 2016 … We’re pop tarts at heart. We love all styles of music. And with the new album we made . . . we really wrapped in a lot of our love for pop music, and kind of where that cross pollinates with what we love.”

Rumors that maybe Nicki Minaj would be helping The Band Perry get the attention they need to make their pop transition began to swirl, which was plausible since the producer for “Live Forever” was RedOne, who has worked with Nicki Minaj, Pitbull, and other big pop stars in the past.

Then in the lead up to the college football championship game The Band Perry played a pregame show, and unveiled a new song likely called “Put Me in the Game Coach.” Whatever confusion and uproar “Live Forever” created, “Put Me in the Game Coach” quadrupled the fervor.

Video of the song has been circulating online (see below), and has been met with many jeers. It must be pointed out though, the video appears to take an audio feed that is not a live mix, but perhaps a monitor mix, making the performance sound even worse than in actually is. Nonetheless, the song is deplorable, and The Band Perry look positively clueless on stage trying to play hip-hop stars.

– – – – – – – – – – –

Let me explain to you exactly what’s going on here, and it dovetails with most every one of the major issues that are facing the financial enterprise of making, distributing, and performing commercial music in 2016:

This isn’t just about an overarching strategy for The Band Perry to go pop, and to do so by bringing in overbearing image consultants to create their whole yellowfied “Heart + Beat” approach. This isn’t just about bringing in an exclusively pop producer in RedOne to help shepherd their transition to pop and to try and make it as seamless as possible, aided by moves from Big Machine Record over recent years to breakdown logistical barriers between pop and country songwriters and producers to make cross-genre collaboration that much more easy and financially lucrative. All of that is in play of course, but these are all ancillary little symptoms to the reason The Band Perry is so obsequiously participating in this charade.

The real reason that The Band Perry went pop, went yellow, released a terrible single in “Live Forever,” and is poised to do it again with “Put Me in the Game Coach” and whatever other dreck Heart + Beat contains, is because The Band Perry was told they needed to become an act that can draw large crowds at live concerts, and not just piggy back on bigger acts as tour support anymore. And you don’t do that with songs like “Better Dig Two.”

This is all the result of Spotify, the parsing of songwriting royalties, the pilfering of songwriting credits by producers and EDM programmers, and 360 recording deals where labels get a share of the live music dollar since the sale of recorded music is no longer economically viable. There’s no money in making and selling records anymore. So either you’re selling out arenas on your own ticket, aggressively working your way towards that goal, or your usefulness to a label is virtually non-existent.

It’s almost better to be an act like The Mavericks or The Cadillac Three (which are also both signed to Big Machine imprints) since there’s no chance they’ll ever be a big 10,000-capactiy draw, but they’ll post solid and steady sales numbers that bring in more money than is spent by the label. An act like The Band Perry though, they need to be dominant in their space. They need to be tops in the country music “Duo or Group” category, or at least heavily competing, or they’re not worth the incredible effort the label is sinking into them.

Meanwhile look at Little Big Town. They’ve been around since the late 90’s, all the principle members are in their 40’s or older, and they just had their best year as a band by a long shot. How did they do it? By taking a chance on a controversial song and having it pay off in spades. While The Band Perry is stuck playing the warmup show leading into the kickoff show leading into the pregame show for the college football playoff, Little Big Town was the belle of the ball at the last CMA Awards, and could be again come Grammy time. And how well does Little Big Town draw live? I don’t know that anybody cares. Little Big Town is doing just fine living within the confines of it own skin.

The Band Perry isn’t the only Big Machine act that was tasked to go big, or go home. Thomas Rhett is also attempting to take this next strategic step. But unlike The Band Perry, his rising action is being aided by big singles.

“I took a couple of lessons. Not necessarily dance lessons, but working with a couple of choreographers a little bit on how to work in front of a camera, and more actual stage movement,” Thomas Rhett told Taste of Country back in September of 2015. “This next phase is going to require a ton of work on our part because no longer are we the three-piece rock band with no lights, and it doesn’t care if I don’t sing well that day because we’re playing at 11:30 in the morning at a festival where you’re strictly playing for white chairs. This is kind of a whole different level … We’re working with a lot of people to make our set look different than anybody else’s. Working with a lot of people on strategic set lists and moments. Next year we want to have a show that’s just full of moments.”

Thomas Rhett is transitioning from an opening act to a mainstream live headliner, and the live show precedes the recorded music in all of the planning and implementation. It’s all about trying to land one of those lucrative spots on Live Nation’s Country Music MegaTicket, because that’s the only way you’re ever going to make major money in country music in 2016.

Not everybody’s cut out to be a big arena or stadium draw. And that’s okay. In the end, Kimberly Perry’s rabid motivation to be a superstar, and her willingness to do anything to get there may ultimately be her undoing. The problem with this “go big” strategy is it’s putting the cart before the horse. Neither The Band Perry nor Thomas Rhett were huge draws live. They just got the coaching on how to act like one, and hoped the attention would come. For Thomas Rhett, it did. For The Band Perry, not so much.

But the worst part about this whole thing is the heartache of The Band Perry fans. They didn’t ask for this. In this day and age of media, fans put their heart and souls behind their favorite acts. The Band Perry is asking its fans to slag through a transition that has seen the virtual eradication of everything The Band Perry has been known for previously, and one that so far has been unsuccessful. Sure, it’s easy for some to laugh off The Band Perry as never being anything more than a breathy singer and her two brothers with Hobbit haircuts. But for the tens of thousands of loyal fans, they feel betrayed. And if the accounts of negative comments being censored on social media are true, then it makes it even worse that they can’t even voice their opinions, or concern.

This is not going to end well for The Band Perry. They’re in so deep now, they have no other option but to double down. But is this approach ever going to work? Did it work for the Eli Young Band? Was it worth it to the Zac Brown Band to alienate so many of their fans by releasing “Beautiful Drug” as a single, only to have it struggle to reach the Top 10? Music is a business, and money must be made. But when it’s done at the expense of your most loyal fans, it’s not only unpretty, it regularly is financially damning in the long-term.

There’s no turning back now for The Band Perry, because they’ve already turned their backs on their entire fan base in a way we many have never seen in country music. The big yellow experiment must work now, or it will be their demise. The wolves are at the door.

Editor’s Note: It appears the video has been removed.

135 Comments

JC Eldredge
January 13, 2016 @
10:12 am

Is TBP (or their “handlers”) deleting negative comments?

It seems like in this day and age of short attention spans and ever increasing ticket prices, maybe it would be smarter to do more of what Rhett and Eldredge did this summer with a joint tour. I know that there is usually an opening act or two, but maybe have two or more larger names and an opener. Sort of a mini festival type show. There just seems to be such a saturation right now of acts and not everyone can afford to go to 20 concerts a year, so instead of selling their souls to try and support a tour alone, join together with a couple different acts, do the bigger shows and keep your dignity.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind their overlords are censoring their social media pages, if not The Band Perry themselves.

The same thing was painfully obvious when Jason Aldean had worn blackface to a Halloween party and I initially noticed many comments taking umbrage with that. But shortly after, your eyes would strain finding even an iota of criticism on his Facebook page for that.

Country music is about the only format of music where labels can get away with stuff like that. Had an artist from any other genre worn blackface and then deleted negative posts the media would be all over it. Same deal with TBP deleting negative comments on Youtube. No other genre could get away with that.

Suppressing dissent always backfires. It just pisses everyone off that much more, and doesn’t give them an outlet to vent. If you believe in what you’re doing, you should welcome dissent, because it gives you the opportunity to explain yourself, understand the criticisms that are out there, and work to resolve them.

Not only that, but Thomas Rhett has the advantage of not gambling on a big change in direction He’s been peddling this bastardized R&B from day one. Much like Shania Twain and Faith Hill, he’s just building on what he’s been doing, as opposed to effectively starting over as The Band Perry blundered into having to do. Oh, to be a fly on the wall!

I’m going to guess that “Put Me In the Game Coach” is some kind of hot garbage. I mean, shit, when you’ve lost NashvilleGab…

I’d like to think that whoever was responsible for bringing TBP back to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has a bad case of buyer’s remorse right about now.

I agree, Thomas Rhett is just doing what he’s always done, I can’t fault him for that. I can listen to his music, but most of it isn’t worthy of a long term play list.

What TBP is doing here is just terrible, the first time I saw their new promotional pics the first thing I thought of was Aqua.

Here is my view on the subject…
Country bands that try to completely cross over should
a) Change their name. It would create less confusion, and if they fail they could resume making country under their original name. It seems to me that if a country band moves to Hot AC, or top 40 that they would have already lost half their listeners just because they are known as that country band.

b.) Not release songs on Country radio if they are obviously not country. I was listening to a podcast last week about when Project 86(Christian metal) went to Active Rock, the lead singer said that the cost to send a single to radio is astronomical, and adding it to multiple formats just multiplies that cost.

c.) Decide if they are getting less or more exposure crossing over. If this is a financial decision, I have to ask if they are just creating more competition. Pop radio is much more diverse than country, so instead of competing with 20+ Top acts, they are competing with 100+ top acts.

d.) this is just my opinion(I listen to all kinds of music) I don’t really have a problem with artists creating multiple kinds of music, If they want to have some pop songs on the album, go ahead, but they have to realize that they have to release the songs to the right radio format, and that the CD has to blend well enough that the people buying it see it as a worthwhile investment. Today in the age of iTunes it’s easier to be multiformat because people can just buy the songs they like, but common people… Using country radio to promote a pop song is a terrible waste of advertising dollars.

A good example of a CD that was released to multiple formats using the correct singles is The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot, It had singles released on AC, Hot AC, Top 40, Active Rock, Alternative stations, plus it was released in the Christian markets on AC, Hot AC, CHR, and Rock. It had songs top the chart, or within the top 10 in all markets. They did this by releasing the right singles to the right radio stations. The CD sold great(almost 3mil) and toped the CCM albums chart for 38 weeks because the songs, while different enough to cover all markets were similar enough that they all fit together in an extremely listenable album.

I know many on this board differ with my opinion, but I do not mind afew poppier songs on an album that an artist tries to push to AC/Top 40. On the other hand I hate it when an artist completely changes their sound for more cash.

It’s getting to a place where we almost need 2 Country formats, say a Country format, and a Traditional Country Format. Most genres have such a thing. You have AC/Hot AC/Top 40 Rock/Active Rock/Alternative Idk that Rap formats, but I think there are afew…. 2 country formats would help even things out in our neck of the woods. The Traditional format could be more like the local AC stations that play a mix of pop songs from the 70’s-now, but with a softer, more traditional feel, while the Country, or you could call it Hot Country stations could play more upbeat modern songs, along with afew older songs.

We just got a new country station locally 9.33 just added 103.3 as a sister station. When It started it just played 70’s-80’s country, but after a few months they went to 90’s-2000’s. I think that they would be better off just switching to a Traditional format.

That was the idea behind Cumulus Media’s NASH Icon format. Unfortunately, they continued to play Florida Georgia Line on it, and the business acumen of the Dickey Brothers was awful. There’s still a few stations left, but the format split they predicting and tried to stimulate never happened.

“.. We”™re pop tarts at heart. We love all styles of music. And with the new album we made . . . we really wrapped in a lot of our love for pop music, and kind of where that cross pollinates with what we love.” ”

At least they admit it. Most artists who are trying to break into pop will deny doing so, no matter how at odds with their words their actions are.

Yes, very disappointed with The Band Perry. Their first two albums were quite good, especially the first one. When they first appeared they seemed to genuinely like country music and their sound, while modern, still retained the character of country music and utilized traditional instrumentation.

Now at the exact time when country may just be leaning back more to its traditional roots, would have been the perfect time for them to stamp their mark on the genre by putting out a contemporary country music album. Thereby solidifying their place as one of the major country acts.

Instead they have done exactly the opposite and taken the wrong road to pop music!! They are surely going to lose their country fan base and I doubt they will gain much foothold in the pop music fan base. I believe with this move they have basically destroyed their career.

The people advising them have made a big mistake. And the worst part is, that I feel that deep down they do genuinely like country music and if left to their own devices, that is the kind of music they would make. This I think comes through when they first came on the scene and performed acoustic sets as a trio, with a guitar, mandolin and bass guitar.

A little bit down the line they are really going to regret taking this career path and, I believe, knowing full well that this is really not what they wanted to do in the first place.

I applaud how you aspire to examine both sides of the situation here, and also play devil’s advocate just to try and get under their skin and walk around it in fathoming why The Band Perry have made career decisions that are starkly at odds with what the vast majority of their fans wanted.

I just don’t see any way The Band Perry are going to recover from this debacle. Big Machine has already blown a huge production budget with “Live Forever” both on its original country radio run, and now with Adult Top 40 as well (it has since been removed from the list of songs on their website they’re actively promoting to the format). But most importantly, as indicated by the high volume of disappointing comments their overlords obsessively delete from their social media pages, as well as YouTube, they’ve not only tested their patience: they’ve shattered it.

Call me a conspiracist, but I can’t help but think that with the alacrity they’ve been willing to show in promoting album tracks live and acting so thin-skinned in response to all criticism…………………that it feels as though The Band Perry are desperate in sabotaging their recording contract with Big Machine. They only say in press releases bullshit that there has never been “such love and happiness around”………………….and maybe there IS some truth to that. As family, NOT in the business aspect of things.

Another reason I can’t help but entertain that notion is that the “Put Me In The Game Coach” seems so over-the-top in how amateurish it is. We know Kimberly Perry has intense superstar ambitions, and we saw her demonstrate legitimate chops in her vocal confidence during the “Pioneer” era. In live settings, she often sounds painfully off-key, but there’s no denying that you get the sense she’s really trying and doesn’t half-ass it. Here, their performance is so maladroit to the point of heightened suspicion.

And if it does turn out their intention all along was to throw every piece of artillery at their Big Machine contract and start anew………………..look, it doesn’t excuse the atrocities they’ve committed with their career, and I also most surely doubt many of their fans will forgive them. But it would nonetheless serve as a heartbreaking reminder of the music business’s dark underbelly.

“This is all the result of Spotify, the parsing of songwriting royalties, the pilfering of songwriting credits by producers and EDM programmers, and 360 recording deals where labels get a share of the live music dollar since the sale of recorded music is no longer economically viable. There”™s no money in making and selling records anymore. So either you”™re selling out arenas on your own ticket, aggressively working your way towards that goal, or your usefulness to a label is virtually non-existent.”

*

It’s not excusing the absurdity of what they’ve been doing, but recognizing the broader context behind this ill-advised direction.

If they were on the level of Gloriana or Eden’s Edge in terms of net popularity, they never would have been in the predicament they are in now. But Borchetta of perpetual dollar sign flashes in his eyes saw a breakout act that he primed to be the group answer to Taylor Swift, and so hoped co-opting the “RED” playbook with The Band Perry would result in lightning striking twice.

ALL of their interviews are just Kimberly repeating this is “genuine” and they made the “best songs ever” and had “huge smiles on their faces” and “were in search of authenticity and excellence”. Either she’s in denial, trying to convince us this is true or they’re just trolling everyone.

Interesting theory Nadia. I’m not sure if I believe it, but it is something to keep an eye on. Sometimes artists play the whole “Oh, it was just sarcasm” card when they try to sell out and it doesn’t work. I remember Jewell doing that some years ago. So whether your theory is right or not, perhaps one way out of this nightmare for The Band Perry is to come out and say, “Ah, we were screwing with y’all the whole time,” or to throw Big Machine under the bus and say they were victims of their contract.

Doesn’t Kimberly Perry know that “pop tarts” isn’t a term of endearment?

The thing about “Pop” was, I consider it to be a highly underrated album that is actually subversive in its content and the dystopia that comes with fame and mass commerce. The problem is, they had already banked their commercial re-emergence with “Achtung Baby” and its accompanying tour off of irony and satire and, when you’re running with that the first time around, it feels and sounds fresh.

It was only when U2 aggressively doubled down on it with the single “Discotheque” and the “YMCA”-gimmick video and all their fans felt cold and confused and could no longer tell if U2 were still running on subversive social commentary or if, somewhere along the way, U2 decided they wanted to wade in those very excesses they were supposedly critiquing. Hence, the backlash began.

*

I certainly don’t view “Heart + Beat” as The Band Perry’s “Pop” equivalent, but I brought up that analogy as a reminder of how veering too heavily on marketing an album off of satire or gimmicks can greatly backfire against one’s favor when you don’t actually have the blessing of your fanbase.

For the record, I actually saw the “Discotheque” video and I actually knew from the first time I saw it, they were just making a gag video because the song is basically talking about how some forms of music and regular entertainment can get overtly sexual.

They had actually released a singles album that focused on the 90’s with a remixed version that’s actually better than the original because you can hear the lyrics.

I agree, and like I said, I felt I understood why they were pointing out.

I think the problem was that U2 had already rode on cheeky social commentary and satire via “Aching Baby” and the ZooTV tour. That, in effect, boosted their popularity back to superstardom. So to follow that and “Zooropa” up with something even more big and accessible sounding felt like overkill to many fans, and they couldn’t tell if they were spoofing the Village People and mass commerce with the “Discotheque” video, or thought: “Screw it, U2 decided they wanted in on the indulgence too!”

I genuinely like “Pop” and consider it to be U2’s most underrated album. I’m not saying it’s their best and you can easily tell how hurried and unfinished much of it comes across. But there are strokes of brilliance to tracks like “Wake Up Dead Man”, “Please”, “Mofo” and “Gone” that I prefer over anything from “No Line On The Horizon” and “Songs of Innocence”. The point I was making is that “Pop” (and “Discotheque”) serves as a reminder as to the unintended consequences that often come with overplaying your hand a certain way.

Yeah I bought “No Line On The Horizon” and “Songs of Innocence” and both of those records I kept asking myself ‘What the hell are they doing?’ but two songs out of Innocence I liked were “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” because it made me think of Jack Ingram and how he saved my life and “Every Breaking Wave” I thought it was just a good song.

I’ll tell you this, I don’t think I can watch them live because they have a habit of fucking up their classic songs and making them sound different from the studio and as an audience member I can’t fucking stand that.

Not only is the “music” (and big bird costume) terribly misguided, the entire idea of TBP as a headlining act is. Kimberly Perry sounds fine on record, but she does not have the big voice or presence to be an arena star. I’ve never heard a live performance where I thought she sounded good, and then giving her material like this? Just embarrassing. I thought “Live Forever” sounded like a bad Katy Perry song, but this just sounds like… nothing. Non-music.

They want badly to headline arenas… 18+ capacity arenas, I’m sure. They always say they create music with live sound in mind and plan to performing it in arenas. Their plan is to be huge, I appreciate the ambition, but they are clueless in many aspects it seems. Kimberly sounds nice when she’s standing in front of the mic, only movements being her playing the guitar… but once the choreography kicks in, she sounds awful.

They were one of the more talented groups that also really appreciated the tradition of country until this happened. I gotta say I didn’t believe it when my friend told me of this awful song but now 2 tragic songs…where are their true friends/advisors this is getting worse and worse. I hope that it will get better for them ASAP b/c this is just pitiful.

I find it far more likely this is the true Band Perry than whatever their old stuff was. Lets not forget they were never really staunch traditionalists, more that they attempted to sound closer to early Taylor Swift with lyrics and subject matter that appealed to younger female fans and added the occasional dobro or mandolin to the production.

Much like Taylor, this switch is likely entirely of what they wanted to sound like or planned. Difference is that they don’t have the crossover appeal that Taylor had that allowed them to land on their feet when they made the switch.

I think this is genuine TBP… I mean they ditched an independent christian rock album they were making once Bob Doyle “found” them and suddenly became a country act. Go listen to Pioneer’s bonus tracks, that’s what they were doing before Big Machine signed them. They always loved name dropping whatever pop star was hot at the moment and kept saying they’d love to collab with them… they were totally sheeps in wolves clothing. They always wanted to be A list stars and they probably do love pop much more than country.

By the way, back then they were working with producers Phil Madeira and Lynn Nichols (who also produced many of Kimberly’s solo songs) and from Phil’s tweets I’ve gotten the impression things didn’t end well between them and the Perry trio.

Whoa! Thanks for sharing! That has to be THE most awkward performance I’ve EVER seen!! SOMEBODY TELL ME WHY THE D-BAG HAS A BASS GUITAR??? I would feel like a complete and total moron being both of those guys on stage. The Wiggles and Zooblie Zoo people had better songs and better live performances!

I’ve been reading on this site how bad they were, and this is the first time I’ve ever clicked a link to check it out. Beyond horrific. I truly, truly AM embarrassed for them.

If you go back to 2012 and look at The Band Perry, they look like a pop country act with country instruments like a banjo and a fiddle actually in the mix. They even had a bit of a southern sound mixed with their pop country leanings.

Fast forward to 2015 / 2016, and they’ve transitioned to a completely different sounding pop band. All you see is bass guitar, guitar, drums and a keyboard. I even think she plays up her southern accent less now.

I could only get 45 seconds into it and had to stop. It’s horrible in all aspects. I saw the Band Perry at Whitewater several years ago. It was a little fufu but overall they sounded pretty good. Not anymore. And did anyone mention the fact that this is a rip off of John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” song? A really bad rip off but nonetheless the idea had to come from Centerfield…… “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, today.”

This act or any other act like it that was willing to sign a 360Â° deal deserves everything coming to them. Almost all these acts are not real artists they are puppets of the label themselves for the most part because when it comes down to it if they don’t do what the label says or the label doesn’t get out of the act what they want in the end the label has final say so on what the ask “artistic “output is. If a major label can’t control the acts they have, the acts are dropped or shelved.
Hopefully the recent shine on all the Cobb produced music will turn the tide a bit more and wash a lot of these embarrassing acts into the gutters.

I am NOT a Sam Hunt fan… Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, etc… I don’t love their music and don’t believe they are even country. However, I’d rather listen to their music over something like this any day! Bro or metro-country are not amazing, its kinda shallow, whatever… but its catchy, and you can drive along in your car singing along to it. This isn’t catchy, it doesn’t mean anything, its just noise. Its just weird, and doesn’t make any sense. Luke Bryan, or Sam Hunt, at least you can believe that they are party-type frat guys. Why is Kimberly Perry singing about getting put in a game, coach? So strange! Plus, at least before she used to sing… Here, she is pretty much just shouting.

Once upon a time there was a band, a band named Perry
It was in satin that they wished to be buried
With only two albums in country, you can say they died young
Now onto Pop, their new music smells like dung

If the only thing on their mind now is, “Put Me In The Game Coach”
Then in Pop they will find, they will be squished like a roach
“Live Forever” they did not, and now their career is shot
They might be done with Country, but they’re still bugging me

Why oh why Band Perry, have your recent career moves been scary?
When you started off with Country-Roots, I never thought you’d get the boot
Even when you dug two, I was still here rooting for you
But now you’re pathetic, causing me to be poetic

This poem is better than “Live Forever”, and wouldn’t you know it, a hell of a lot clever
Now you sport the look of a bumblebee, causing you to push back your CD
#27 on the charts spells a big ol’ fart, and now you say “Minaj!” while we see through your mirage

I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed, disappointed that your career got all disjointed
I’d tell you to come back, but I’m done cutting slack
I don’t know why you did this, but you sure as hell deserve a diss
If money caused this act, let me share a funny fact
Money is green you dumb fellows, not bright fucking yellow!

It’s not from a lack of exposure that The Band Perry is struggling. They’re getting huge television opportunities left and right. That why I said above, when you’re label is pulling all kinds of strings for you and you’re still failing, it’s a bad sign. Big Machine might as well put someone else in there who will perform and actually drive sales and downloads. You put this much effort behind a bad, there has to be a payoff.

I agree this new TBP is totally ridiculous. I’m like a few of the commentators above, I got into TBP around BDT and Done. Do like their songs on their first album, but never cared for If I Die Young. If things didn’t end well between them and Phil Madeira, it makes me wonder how things ended between them and Bob Doyle.
But, with the new songs that I’ve heard from them there is now way I would buy that album if it did come out. Too far in the left field for my liking. I mean it is one thing to like a certain type of music, like the way TBP always goes on about liking whoever’s in the pop field, but it is also another thing to try to be that. To me their bread and butter was in the material that came off of their first album. And, now they want to compete with Adele. To me that is suicidal.

Interesting fact… they ditched Bob Doyle’s management right after Pioneer came out and joined Red Light. That when the choreography came in and Kimberly started showing more skin. By the end of the Pioneer era her curly hair turned straight and long, she was wearing crop tops and butt fitting pants and pracing around the stage while making the occasional sexy dance move. She also started wearing sheer, see-through dresses on the red carpet. Red Light Management is likely behind the major change in their image, trying to sexualize them while making them “cool” for teenagers.

Also, I should mention that their personalities and attitude have changed too. They are clearly trying to attract teen fans by acting like teens themselves. Kimberly is 32… she should be ashamed!

I absolutely believe that The Band Perry are desperate to be pop stars. I looked back at interviews and they often talk about the celebrities they want to meet and the pop stars they want to collaborate with.

Here are a few random quotes from over the years where the band talks about their influences.

2010:
“It’s our embracing of our country roots and love for old Southern Gothic literature.”

“Bluegrass feels like home. As do the Black Crowes.”

2013:
“Genre-crossing, we have those opportunities pretty frequently, but we’re really, really proud to be inside country music and bring some folks into it. I feel like rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues, soul … all those lines kind of run all over each other. We call country music these days the American format. If Tom Petty and Springsteen and all those guys ”“ maybe even Queen – came out today, they would probably be on country radio.”

“And our mother loved Loretta Lynn. She was the country music fan.”

2014:
“Mama woke us up with Loretta Lynn. So we get it honest.”

“I fell in love with The Judds,” notes Kimberly. “That was kind of my first foray in just the fourth grade into country music. I remember falling in love with them.”

2015:

“Deana Carter’s “Strawberry Wine” is really what made us want to be country singers.”

Kimberly added that she and her brothers are also going “back to our old roots, with the Rolling Stones, Queen, Bob Dylan and some of our old favorites. We’re attracted to very aggressive sounds right now.”

“We’ve been hooked on that DJ Snake and Lil Jon song, ‘Turn Down for What,'” said Neil. “Also, Avicii is really great. We love how he mixes organic instruments with electronica.”

So what”™s the last song you listened to on your iPhone?
Reid: Luxury by Jon Bellion.
Kimberly: Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson got me going this morning, along with my coffee.
Neil: Fancy by Iggy Azalea

“I agree that it”™s exciting how quickly everything changes, and country seems to be embracing more sounds then ever. But I think, on the other side of that, pop culture is embracing country like never before. We”™re getting to make our new record and of course we are collaborating in Nashville, but we also have some collaborations in LA. It”™s amazing to me how many people who you wouldn”™t expect are country fans and adore our genre and want to be a part of it.”

… From the songs they claimed they love at whatever moment they’re asked about it, it sounds like they listen to Top 40 pop radio A LOT!
And of course, they barely ever mention country stars and country music they like, they only talk about Loretta Lynn and “are such big fans” of country artists if the interviewer drops any names, sounds like they can’t come up with anyone. The last time it was Kimberly saying they wanted to collaborate with Sam Hunt… how convenient!!

Little off topic here, but what the hell’s up with the Cadillac Three, anyway? Were they beset by the same “under-performing single = indefinite album delays” bug that Josh Turner and others have? Holy heck, their song “The South” was released as a single in 2013; I don’t hold out much hope that it’ll even appear on the band’s upcoming album at this point, if it’s ever released. The best they’ve managed so far is to reissue their self-titled debut (which was originally released under the band name “The Cadillac Black”) through Big Machine, and to tack “The South” on as a bonus track on overseas versions that go by Tennessee Mojo.

Good question. You see Jaren Johnston’s name as a contributing songwriter all over the place though. I’m not sure anyone knows what to do with that project, but they continue to tour and draw decent club-sized crowds.

By the way, what’s all this about ” Kimberly Perry”™s rabid motivation to be a superstar, and her willingness to do anything to get there”? I haven’t heard about that a whole lot and I’ve never paid much more than passing attention to the band. Care to fill me in? I doubt I’d find many other corroborators of that opinion with Google, since it’s rarely criticized elsewhere.

She’s the one always name dropping pop stars and always seemed the one most motivated to crossover. Anyway it is the Kimberly Perry Band, her brothers being secondary. This band takes any opportunity to be on TV and get promotion, they campaign like crazy to get fans to vote for dumb meaningless awards like a People’s Choice Award or a Teen Choice award (and always lose to competition that didn’t care to get fans to vote, which is hilarious), not only does Kimberly name drops a lot she seems to be a big fan of everyone she mentions or that is mentioned to her… the woman seems to be pretty fake in interviews too.

I think it’s obvious they definitely want to be famous, a least a lot more famous than they are now… if it was all about the music and not the fame, they’d be happy with their grammy and not put up a campaign to make their fans vote for a damn People’s Choice Award. They also wouldn’t bother changing so much their image, getting personal trainers, full time glam team and a whole style makeover.

They’re basically showing their true colors, is what it sounds like to me. Why be ashamed to not want to talk about being a Christian rock group. Haven’t they heard of the Oak Ridge Boys? They could’ve been a little bit more opened about their musical journey instead of being covert about it, because eventually the truth is going to come out whether they like it or not. And, this debacle they are going through now may be the catalyst for it. Yeah, for awhile they may be having opportunities like being part of the Miss Universe pageant and the 13 Hours movie premiere, but once that record company sees that they are no longer viable, then down the drain they go and someone else takes their spot.
It is too bad about them ending their relationship with the Henningsons, that collaboration was what got them noticed in the first place. But, one of these days they are going to regret that decision too.

Thanks, that’s exactly the kind of details I was looking for. I’m out of the loop a lot so these opinions that get thrown out that everyone and their brother agrees with sometimes confound me. That and it’s hard to research opinions given that, true or not, most news outlets aren’t going to report events through the same filter that Trigger or average SCM readers do.

Tiffany, I think ignoring past “failures” is a way of avoiding future ones in the minds of the PR departments at these labels. A huge success coming out of nowhere is more apt to get otherwise uninterested or ignorant listeners to pay attention, as if they’re missing something. If you point out that several or all of the artists in question have had what amounts to multiple failures, seems like some listeners might have the opposite thought process and think they’re not missing anything (given that it didn’t initially prove fruitful). It’s basically the record industry version of “acting like a success and thinking like a success will lead to actual success.” Or at least that’s my take.

Hmm, interesting. It’d be kind of sad for the Cadillac Three if they become a one-hit-wonder for that song, which wasn’t too much of a hit to begin with. Despite FGL being featured in the latter part and it’s generic laundry list lyrics, I consider “The South” to be good trashy fun. It’s not great, but it’s entertaining. Or at least to my ears.

That’s the problem with that band. They have a ton of potential, but since I first heard them at Lake Eufala for Music & Mayhem back in 2010(?) they’ve continued the “trashy fun.” Which is fine, I just want something of substance to go a long with it. Take some risks with instrumentation or something. Not everyone has to have John Moreland lyrics and SRV instrument skills, but shit, mix it up at least.

With all that being said, I enjoyed this band in the past, they just haven’t continued to grow, in my eyes, at all.

I agree. I’m merely endorsing one song. But I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with a band that’s all about good times if they can back it up with actual musicianship. If they were the little fish in a big sea of substance they wouldn’t be a problem. Given that good times and pandering is the de-facto mode of country radio, they just seem to be late to a party that’s overstayed it’s welcome already.

What was wrong with Better Dig Two? It was a platinum selling single and reached number one on the air play charts. It wasn’t the most country thing ever but its better than most of the other crap they’ve put out

That mention was not a dig on “Better Dig Two” whatsoever. If anything it was a compliment. My point was songs like “Better Dig Two” are not written to be arena hits performed live in from of 18,000 people. As song like “Put Me In The Game Coach” is.

I recommend checking out Brandy Clark’s solo version of “Better Dig Two” on YouTube. I didn’t fully appreciate the song until I heard that. (Same with “Mama’s Broken Heart” by Miranda Lambert.) Modern pop production frequntly detracts from the quality of songs. Plus, Brandy is a more tasteful singer than Kimberly Perry.

That video was awful.It looks like a SNL Kesha spoof or something.Only at least Kesha makes it half-way humorous to watch.I predict this yellow shit will be the end of them.You’d think they would be RUNNING away from that color at this point.

Having said that,girlfirend be lookin might fine in dose tite black britches she have on

Yup, that’s flaming shit all right, no matter the genre. It was downright embarrassing. I mean, if that’s what they want to do, more power to them, but their comeuppance is shaping up to be quite righteous. They’re going to crash and burn, and I am going to point and laugh.

Wow. This is like a band from a 2nd tier Disney Channel sitcom. You know, from that one episode where the pre-teens on the show decided to be a band and have a big gig at the coffee house and/or diner they always hang out at.

I also have wondered if their parents weren’t stage parents. In a lot of their interviews they always mention, at least in their earlier interviews, how mom and dad are the invisible fourth and fifth members of their group. Like, when Kimberly started out in her first group and the brothers started their own group their father was the one who did all the booking, while at the same time, trying to get them a record deal. And, their mom was their stylist and did hair and makeup for them, too.

They seem like total stage parents to me. They made the boys drop out of school and be homeschooled for the sake of Kimberly’s career. Kimberly was solo and got a contract after she was done with high school, the family moved to TN so they could be closer to Nashville and Atlanta. She was signed by Forefront Records and was a christian artist. Marie (their mom) would drive Kimberly to shows and the boys, with no option, would have to follow and would open with a little band of theirs if they could have that option. Kimberly would perform mostly churches and small christian festivals, she opened for ZoeGirl and Jump5 in 2005 and the boys and Marie were there on tour with her the whole time, the boys being teenagers.

Kimberly’s EP flopped, her album was never made and she was dropped. That’s when the brothers joined her when she got to do the New Faces of Country Tour (which is weird to me as she didn’t have any country songs and was still signed as a christian artist). To be honest, they never made any country music until they got signed by BMLG. Marie was always very active in their careers and their dad supported them financially and yes, did management too.

The parents still travel with them… to this very day, after 6 years as a signed act and with all the success and experience they have. Super weird, right? If mom’s not there, dad is… sometimes it’s both. They’re always there… always on the bus, always backstage at shows, always backstage when TBP has a TV showing. It’s weird how these three are adults, Kimberly in her 30s and married, yet the parents are always around and never just stay home. What the hell are they doing there? TBP now has their own stylist, hair and makeup team, managers, publicists, tour crew… what is exactly their parents roles? Are they there to cheer? Seems like it to me they’re there to control!!

I know people mock the brothers, but I feel so bad for them… they were robbed of a normal childhood and their whole lives are about their sister’s career. Even this band is about Kimberly. I wonder if they ever wanted to do something other than music but couldn’t. I wonder if they wanted to do their own thing, but can’t leave this project. The whole thing is just sad and weird to me.

Thanks for this, it all makes a whole lot more sense now. Heck I know all about that type of Kardashian wannabe family, my dad comes from one! They don’t care about artistry nor sharing any kind of message, it’s about the fame and the fame only. And there’s always one particular child they latch onto to get there. Somebody should call E! and get them a reality show so they don’t need country music as their main source of income anymore.

Nothing wrong with being close with their parents… but I don’t agree with taking the boys out of regular school and put them in a van to follow around their sister in her quest to be famous. It’s not like they had no one to look after that… their dad and grandparents stayed in Greeneville the whole time, I’m sure they could have looked after them and the boys would have had a more stable life going to school and maybe they’d have some actual friends in Greeneville today. Everytime they’re spotted in town they’re with each other… it seems that outside business they have absolutely no friends. That’s just sad!

This has to be the biggest backfire in history in terms of selling out. The only other instance that want this bad was when Liz Phair, after a decade of being one of the biggest female indie artists, decided in 2003 that she wanted to be another Avril Lavigne. And that is exactly what she tried to do with a self titled album that year. It alienated her fan base so much and the CD backfired so spectacularly that it ended her career. Call it a case of :When selling out goes horribly wrong.”

Exactly, what a change! To me this is where having everything on You Tube is both a blessing and/or curse, because a fan or a potential fan can look up everything they want to about a group. From the humble beginnings to potential PR disasters. I actually found this video of TBP sometime back. This video is of TBP at Joe’s Bar in Chicago in 2011 doing Hip to My Heart. And, if you look at the video at 0:38 and 1:22 the performance doesn’t seem in sync with their music.

I couldn’t watch the video. Apparently, BMLG pulled it (something about IFPI claiming copyright)! Damn, Trigger! Lol! They must not have liked you doing two articles about TBP! You’re making them look bad!

There used to be a fan website that showcased information about Kimberly’s solo career. There were pictures and songs. The website is now gone but a lot of the info is still online. I have followed TBP since they released If I Die Young and supported them always, believing them to be genuine. Then they have started to change during the Pioneer era and now this whole yellow fiasco comes in. I started to pick up they never talk about their christian rock times and how they just pretending Kimberly was never a signed solo artist, in fact they lie about the whole thing… (they also recently lied about IIDY being a last minute creation in their message about the album delay, the song’s been around since 2007!)

To me it’s obvious. They want more fame, more power, they want to make it in pop and I think they’re just sick and tired of being in country. They’re probably tired of pretending to enjoy being in the genre and they’re not getting any younger, especially Kimberly now being in her 30s… they have to take the chance and milk it while they’re still young and Kimberly still has her looks. I’ve also noticed they’ve been making more friendships in Hollywood now, not only with pop stars but also with actors and other showbiz figures… taking advantage of social media exposure those “friends” give to their own fanbases.

I may not have followed TBP as long as you have, but I became fans of them for the same reason that you mentioned. In that they seemed genuine. That and they really cared and like the genre in country music.

they’re still working on it, but it’s with the same pop songwriters that wrote crap like Put Me In the game! They’re willing to not change a thing about this new direction, just writing more pop tart crap music.

They’ve made plenty famous friends in Hollyweird… they probably like the glamour of it all. They’re finally where they want to be. I’m surprised they’re still in East TN, but that’s where their stage parents live and they probably can’t just leave the nest.

by the way can you believe it how many people it took to write that Game song??
Put Me In The Game* (J Hamilton-Andrews, K. Perry, N. Perry, R. Perry, R. Volta, M. Williams)

Wow, thank you for the links. They briefly touched on how they came up with the name The Band Perry in a radio promo tour that they did in 2009 when they first came out. But, I never thought much about it till I look at your info about the group.

The first time I saw this interview with Boone Daughdrill, TBP’s drummer. And, at the time I first saw this interview and he was talking about Kimberly’s solo career it made no sense, because of the PR saying Kimberly had a band and the brothers was the opening act. However, with what Marie G has said it makes a little more sense now. However, he doesn’t start talking about his history with Kimberly Perry and TBP until about eight minutes in, because he goes into his own background a little bit.

Yes, Boone was her drummer back when she opened for ZoeGirl and Jump5. She has flat out lied in interviews and said she was never a solo artists and always in bands… pathetic! It’s one thing to not mention it, but another to just lie about facts that are still available online. In fact the very few times interviewers have brought up the christian music career they almost seem to want to avoid it, like they just fly over the subject and never get deep into it, seeming to want to end that part of the conversation asap.

The whole thing is strange but it would reveal that they’re a fraud that only started making country music once BMLG signed them. If people dig they’ll find out that there’s no country music before their Republic Nashville released EP in 2009.

I guess it’s like what some baseball fanatics say, JP Arencibia really IS a cancer.

Fired from the Blue Jays, then hired by the Rangers only to be thrown on the Triple A team… then come back and have a string of home runs but still the team dropped him. Then the Orioles hired him for Triple A team, so embarrassing on instagram with all his “proud to be back… keep motivated… iron sharpens iron…” comments and only lasted a few months and they dropped him like a hot potato. The Tampa Bay Rays hired him again for Triple A team, he made it to be main team and after all the home runs the guy was still dropped. Now the Phillies hired him again for Triple A… I wonder if by the end of the season he’ll be dropped once again.

I don’t get it how the guy keeps delivering home runs and still all these teams are getting rid of him. Like, what’s going on? Does he have a bad temper or something? All people talk about is how much of a “nice guy” he is but the teams never keep him even when he’s good. Weird.
I do think he has an ego though, he, just like his wife, can’t deal with criticism.

Figures Big Machine removed that song but didn’t take down the other new songs… Hopefully it gets pulled from the album and they never perform it again. I love The Band Perry but Put Me in the Game is not a good song.

Because I was feeing masochistic, i went searching for a long version of the…um..song they did but no luck so going off the two links that Marie G posted, all i have to say is…

“Oh dear god, someone please give me a link to a Waylon Jennings song or anything to cure the ear infection that i surely have just gotten from hearing just a few seconds of that song!”

Gah, don’t get me wrong, personally I would listen to any kind of music that sounds catchy and good to me and admittely probably less picky that some other people here, but after hearing that sport novelty song its like, “Hello 911? I just heard a really stupid song and i need a Waylon song.to cure myself of it…stat!”

(been more on a Waylon Jennings kick ever since someone got me back into the Dukes of Hazzard fandom )

The music industry is a glut of acts . There is FAR more supply than demand at the moment and that trend will no doubt escalate with the continuing evolution of home recording ,the availability cheap musical equipment and ever more undiscerning listeners . Talent , songs and music , in general , is horribly devalued by the sheer volume of options . Sadly , all roads lead to Rome . The options don’t differ enough to REALLY be identified as options . Most mainstream country acts are straw-graspers and trend chasers and have traded any ‘vision’ and uniqueness they may have possessed for a crack at making it BIG in terms of $$$ . It happened with the club scene about 15 years ago . Too many clubs , too many bands , not enough patronage / revenue to sustain it all . Now there are few clubs that regularly feature ‘good’ acts and the ones that do often pay less than they did in the 80’s for entertainers because it just doesn’t matter to customers .
Tough decisions need to be made by musicians /acts . There’s not a lot of paying options in terms of actually making a living doing music UNLESS you play the labels’ game . Go big and trendy and cash in on the latest whatever ….or don’t even knock on the door . Many acts are caught in this transitional era setting out with inspiration, integrity and sincere intentions only to be bushwhacked by the reality of the business along the way and forced to perpetually tread water or succumb to the tide and trends hoping to wash up on friendly shores ( Band Perry ) . Substance , sincerity , style and artistic vision is not , unfortunately , in fashion . Short attention spans , the importance of ‘hip-ness’ , the indifference and ignorance of an ever younger demographic and the barrage of ‘entertainment ‘ distractions vying for a person’s interest is overwhelming and renders much available input relatively meaningless . The shelves are full . There’s no room for anything new without jettisoning something else . Quite the scenario for a any ‘ original ‘ act to have to operate within . Capitulate or die . The sad thing is that when today’s young entertainment consumer is middle aged , there will be very little worth looking back on with any REAL emotional attachment because very little was made with emotion at its heart . A lose- lose for the consumer and the entertainer who has all but given up , apparently , on sustaining a career based on vision , originality , integrity and the sheer joy of being able to provide their art for generations to come .

Why can’t Hunter Hayes get any traction / airplay / spots on late night talk shows/ nods from the CMA ? His songs are every bit as generic , trendy and as lacking in substance as everyone else’s except that he actually has a terrific voice and can play guitar like a monster .

I know this is an old post, but there is something weird happening in TBP land. I guess either TBP or BMLG removed the video of Live Forever from You Tube. The performances are there of the song, but not the official video. As far as I know, I’ve not know of this happening to any other artist.